Ron Hogen Green, Sensei Zen Center of New York City, 6/30/2019

Blue Cliff Record, Case 54 In this talk, Hogen Sensei uses the dialogue of this koan to explore our fundamental sense of who we are  and to remind us that practice is always our own, a journey of discovering and realizing our true nature. The answers to what we seek are within our own lives, aided by our own ability to listen, and our clear intention to be of benefit in the world, and to manifest realization in all aspects of our lives.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/29/2019

Gateless Gate, Case 1

A student asked the master, “Does even a dog have buddha nature or not?”

The master replied, “Not.”

For a thousand years or so, this exchange between two practitioners of ancient China has been a perplexing poison/medicine to Zen students—shriveling the ego’s defenses and uncovering the fertile ground below. In many schools, it is the first koan one is assigned. In some schools, it is the only koan to be ever assigned. It is “the great barrier gate of wise ones and sages.” And despite all the mythologizing and cultural/historical distance, as Shugen Roshi points out in this talk from Summer Solstice Sesshin, for each person who takes it up, it always boils down to one intimate moment.

Horace Kaishu Moody, Senior Lay Student

Zen Mountain Monastery, 06/28/2019 

Going in to the heart of the Bodhisattva precepts, this talk asks “what is other?” – much like we often ask in relationship with the world, “what is self?” How is this apparent self and other, in fact, not clearly separate at all? Sharing the grieving and remembrance of a cherished friend, or taking responsibility for our own thoughts and actions, can be inexplicable and wonderful when there is no separation of self and other.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei Zen Mountain Monastery, 06/27/2019

 

Quoting an old Zen story, a student asks what is the basis of great wisdom and the teacher answers “Attention!” Hojin Sensei speaks about the student’s struggle to understand and see what is profound and subtle in this instruction, attention attention attention!  How can whole-hearted and simple attention help us to work skillfully with what is directly in front of us?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/26/2019

Book of Serenity, Case 37

Citing Dogen’s fascicle on Thusness and passages from the Lankavatara Sutra, Shugen Roshi explores being true to oneself and true to the dharma in sacred mountain training. The question for practitioners is: what is it to whole-heartedly live, and how do we take that up in each moment? This encounter between Guishan and Yangshan is one of many koans using a call and response to explore the deeper intimacy between teacher and student and within the student’s own mind of inquiry.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/23/2019

Blue Cliff Record, Case 98

How does working with a koan help to illuminate ones mind, to clarify the nature of suffering and bring peace to the world? In this discourse Shugen Roshi explores how a student can work with a koan in the context of zazen and with the guidance of teachers, and how any aspect of our lives can become a lived koan, in formal training and in everyday life.

Rev. Trudi Jinpu Hirsch-Abramson

Zen Center of New York City, 6/23/2019

Rev. Jinpu offers her engaging stories about the practice of aging and living in the now. An ordained Buddhist priest and hospice chaplain, Jinpu has over twenty years of experience in practicing and teaching others to care for and celebrate all of life.

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Sensei Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/16/2019

Following her retreat on the Fullness of Emptiness, visiting teacher Zenju Sensei shares with us her path of awakening to what is already within us. She says “We awaken through the challenges of our embodiments in terms of race, class, gender and so on. We awaken through challenges of everyday life. We awaken through what disrupts our lives.” 

To learn more about Zenju Sensei’s writings, poetry and teachings, visit zenju.org

Danica Shoan Ankele, Monastic

Zen Center of New York City, 06/16/2019

How do you know when practice is really working, and when its not? With teachings from the Diamond Sutra and Shakespeare, Shoan encourages connection with the elemental questions that lead us to practice, to return to them again, exploring some common ways we are derailed. Through the practice of zazen we can re-focus on direct experience of the breath, and learn how it is that we know when practice is working.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/09/2019

Concluding a retreat on the Four Immeasurables, this discourse by Shugen Roshi explores an excerpt from Dogen’s Genjokoan to help us deeply understanding the value of humility in bringing forth true confidence. This talk is one of a series on the ten core values which form the basis of the Beyond Fear of Differences work.